Delete Files By Schedule

[plexter]

Hi,

I am currently in the process of setting up a temporary file storage server.

I am trying to have a 'script' running which will automatically remove files older than X number of days.

File upload/retrieval is done via FTP. So the script will need to be run separately of this. Basically the file system will look something like this:

[FTP ROOT] -> [username] -> uploaded files and directories

Ideally I would like to a) remove all files older than X days and than after Y remove all files and directories including the [username].

I think I know how to do this (more or less) however I would like to know from others what might be the best way of doing this.

Simplicity is ideal. I would also prefer not to have to install additional software unless its really worth it.

Your help is appreciated. Thanks

[TerryP]

How I would first try to do it:

a cron job A that uses find to recurse for all files/dir's in the target hier and rm -rf's them if criteria X are met.

a cron job B that uses find to do likewise but for Y instead of X.


GNU Find#time


Another trick would be using a cronjob to run a custom made hunt & kill script or a self-rolled daemon to hunt and peck the files, perls a nice handler for that.

But cron+find should be able to do it all.

[plexter]

Hi Terry thanks for the reply.

Would you happen to have an example command line for cron?

Say for something that will check every 5 minutes and will remove all files older (but not younger) than 7 days.

Thanks for your help!

[scottro]

Something like

cd /var/ftp (or wherever you keep the files)
/usr/bin/find ./ -type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f '{}' +

-type f file
-mtime + 7 older than 7 days
-exec rm -f '{}' +
That + at the end was something I found while googling--I'm trying to remember its purpose. Ah, I think it was a way to avoid getting the error of filelist too long.

http://www.hccfl.edu/pollock/Unix/FindCmd.htm

WARNING: DANGER and all that stuff.

I would definitely test it with echo rm rather than just rm before putting it into action.

[robbak]

The + is simply a delimiter to tell find where the -exec command ends. Convenient, because it means that we can avoid a heap of multiple escaping and quoting. (normally, these sort of commands are entered as a single unit, which means quoting with ' or ", escaping with many \\\\'s, or some hellish combination of the three! )

[TerryP]

Not familiar with all of finds many innerds so I didn't know that, thanks a lot for the info about the + Scottro.


And yeah, testing with echo is one of the scripters best friends.

[plexter]

Hello all,

Thank you very much for your replies.

scottro:

I am having trouble getting your command to work.

I tried inputting into CRON


30 * * * * cd /usr/path && /usr/bin/find ./-type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f '{}'+
and
30 * * * * cd /usr/path /usr/bin/find ./-type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f '{}'+

and nothing seems to happen.

I have also tried simply typing the command on the command line and I get dropped into a > prompt where I do not seem to be able to do anything. Or it says "find: -exec: no terminating ";" "

I tried adding a ; but that didnt seem to help.


I am not sure if I am doing something wrong, if cron is not running for root??? or what could be up.

Oh and I setup cron by: crontab -u root -e

Help would be greatly appreciated.

[BSDfan666]

$ /usr/bin/find /usr/path -type f -mtime +7 -exec ls {} \;
That would list files older then 7 days, adjust it to your needs...

[scottro]

Oops, typo on my part, BSDFan fixed it.

[plexter]

hmm.. thanks BSDfan666

I issued the command:

/usr/bin/find /path/ -type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f {} \;

and it removed the files older than 7.

However it does not seem to run when I put it as a crontab.

I suspect the cron job is not even running. Do I have to 'enable' cron? Any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

[plexter]

I just don't get it... I'm positive CRON is not running the command now.


I have done the following:

mkdir /path/LOGS

crontab -e

5     *     *     *     *     /usr/bin/find /path/ftp/ -print -type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f {} \; > /path/LOGS/deleted.log

The command (minus CRON stuff) works fine via command line.

I do not see anything show up in the log (file does not even get created) and my files older than 7 days are still there.

Does anyone here have more experience with CRON who might know why it is not running?

Thanks a lot.

[jggimi]

You have what appears to be shell script, rather than a single executable command in your crontab entry.

Stick your shell script in a text file. Make your first line of that file:

#!/bin/sh

After saving the file, use chmod +x to mark the file executable.
Edit your crontab entry to make that file the command.

[plexter]

Hi again,

I just wanted to let you know that with your help all seems to be working now. I've tested and the script seems to run as planned.

Thanks a lot for your help!